Photo: Dylanvt · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Essex earn more than those in 84% of U.S. towns
5.0% of residents are in poverty, against 10.1% across Vermont. The two grades for Essex are A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in seven work in Essex itself; outside it, Burlington draws the most (21%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Essex, in a few figures
Essex trades workers with the towns around it
Essex has about as many jobs (5,609) as working residents (5,759), but they are mostly different people: 5,064 residents leave for work each day while 4,914 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Essex are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Essex residents work close to home
78% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 7% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
A lot of Essex works one town over
39% of working residents work in a town that borders Essex: South Burlington (13%), Williston (9%) and Essex Junction (9%). Next door ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Essex’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Essex is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #5 of 71 in Vermont. Household income is its strongest input ($110,199, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Essex could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Who commutes out of Essex, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,064 residents head out to work, 695 work right here, and 4,914 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.97 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Essex
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The towns that employ Essex’s residents
Where Essex clocks in
21% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Goods, not services: 30% of the jobs in Essex
5,609 jobs are based in Essex.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Essex, 2014 → 2024: 5,822 → 5,609. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Essex’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, about the VT average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Essex workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,952 commuters (the 22% who work from home are left out). Across Vermont: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Few in Essex walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Essex is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #46 of 71 in Vermont. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.2% across Vermont.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,311 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 58% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 12% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.9% of Essex households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Essex’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Essex ranks: 492nd of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Williston VT | 9,975 | $107K | 4.3% | 1.6% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 490 | East Bradford Township PA | 10,970 | $155K | 4.6% | 4.8% | 3% | A |
| 491 | Glocester RI | 10,612 | $114K | 4.8% | 3.3% | 8% | A |
| 492 | Essex VT | 11,346 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.1% | 12% | A |
| 493 | Olmsted Falls OH | 8,669 | $97K | 6.0% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| 494 | Liberty Lake WA | 14,029 | $119K | 5.0% | 2.7% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 895 | Essex Junction VT | 10,921 | $89K | 9.5% | 1.9% | 11% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,039 | Shelburne VT | 8,133 | $116K | 8.4% | 3.8% | 16% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Essex, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Bordering towns draw 39% of Essex’s workers
The biggest share goes to South Burlington (13%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Essex workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | – | A | B+ | 22 min | $110,199 |
| Williston | 9% | A | B− | 20 min | $106,967 |
| Essex Junction | 9% | A− | A | 19 min | $89,257 |
| South Burlington | 13% | A− | A | 18 min | $106,667 |
| Jericho | under 2% | A | B+ | 26 min | $116,923 |
| Westford | under 2% | A− | C− | 33 min | $112,750 |
| Colchester | 8% | B+ | A | 20 min | $97,891 |
| Underhill | under 2% | B+ | D | 33 min | $92,267 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Essex’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Essex: questions
What is the median household income in Essex?
$110,199 (±$14,119) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Essex?
5.0%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Essex?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Essex work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Burlington (21%, 10 mi), South Burlington (13%, 10 mi), Williston (9%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Essex walkable?
Essex is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Essex without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 12% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Essex, from the people who make the trip.
More of Essex
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.